Puyo Pop Fever - Xbox

Let's see. Made by SEGA, nonsensical title, luridly-coloured packaging...Puyo Pop Fever just screams, "I am of Japanese origin!" Puyo Pop has been around forever, but not necessarily in Europe. The series is the far east's answer to Tetris, a falling block puzzler with migraine-inducing backgrounds and brightly-coloured blobs tumbling into a rectangular receptacle. The trick is to form chains of blobs of the same colour, watching them burst and disappear, and rack up the points. It's that simple...to begin with!

Of course, things do get more frantic as you become a more accomplished Puyo master. Game modes include Single Puyo Pop (for the solo gamer); Double Puyo Pop (two-player battle); and Endless Puyo Pop, which includes Fever mode, Mission mode and the original Puyo game.

Playing alone is all well and good, but Puyo Pop Fever really takes a hold with a friend to go up against. With both receptacles shown on screen at all times, it's hard not to look at how your opponent is faring, thus making yourself prone to the odd blunder or two in your own game. It's all great fun and, like Tetris, Ballistic, Bust-a-Move and many other games of a similar bent, completely addictive. Go catch this fever! more